23 - 24 June. Early Bird prices end on 1st. May. A number of Tandem Couples have already booked and if you would like to camp tigether please let the organisers know by 1st. June. As usual a tandem specific ride is planned. Details.

You can now get an email sent to you with a link to the journal in audio MP3 form sent to you once Eifion has done his magic. Email webgroup@tandem-club.org.uk to set this up for you or you can set it up the next time you renew, there is a checkbox on the membership form.

We have implemented a new For Sale system. This allows members and non members to post adverts on the TC website. This is free for items under £100 and there is a small credit/debit card charge for items above this. Why not have a clear out of some of those old tandem bits lying around ?

We have created a new forum system. The old one was outdated and probably had some security flaws. We have copied all of the old forum information into the new system To post messages to it you will need a website account and login. See here for more information on how to use it. The website's top menu provides access to the discussions and wanted items under the "Boards" heading.

Regions News

Taunton Tandem Group has become so successful that even in the middle of February 13½ tandems turned up for this months ride organised by Richard and Michelle. The newly adopted policy of splitting into two groups, following the same route but with staggered start times, worked well. We met at the Willow & Wetlands Centre at Stoke St Gregory before heading to Langport for lunch, following quiet lanes through the pretty villages of North Curry, Barrington and Kingsbury Episcopi. The ‘A Team’, ably led by Nick and Rachel, arrived for lunch intact and without incident. The ‘B Team’ was less successful suffering a broken gear cable (which Steve managed to fix with a cable tie, although he and Maggie then had to complete the ride in one gear) and, more seriously, a broken bottom bracket on Mark and Liz’s tandem. Fortunately, some friendly locals took pity on them and gave them a lift to Langport. Mark then teamed up with John to go and fetch the van, whilst the ladies enjoyed more coffee and cake! The Bow Wharf Café did a great job in serving 27 pre-ordered lunches. A brief rain shower failed to dampen spirits on the short ride back to Stoke St Gregory.

The Taunton Group had a short ride planned for the day of their Christmas meal which was organised by Ian and Lisa but the weather was so bad that it was shortened to just three and a half miles! Only 3 couples agreed to tackle the challenge – a ride up the hill to Peter Merson’s house where he kindly supplied coffee and a slide show of his early tandeming years. We also saw Peter and Jenny’s pictures of Salviac.

The Christmas meal for 39 Tandemists at the Walnut Tree was up to the usual standard and the Christmas quiz was followed by the prize for the best fancy dress – awarded this year to Nick and Rachel. The trophy for the couple who had attended the most rides was awarded to John and Judy. Nick then led us in song to the ‘French’ version of the Tandemists anthem ‘Daisy Daisy’ which the Taunton Group had sung previously in Salviac.

Lisa and Ian were thanked for their work as ROs and presented with a bottle of wine and flowers.

Nick and Rachel organised a glorious November ride with coffee to start and then a mixture of gentle and more aggressive undulations over 22 miles. There were 27 of us and, had we laid our tandems end to end, it looked like nearly a furlong's worth! We went west from Taunton and strung out across the lanes of Taunton Vale to descend into Milverton. A Somerset local who on another day might have had a smock and a wisp of straw in his mouth asked us what we were doing clogging up his village, and encouraged all those on the back of tandems to rise up against their oppressors on the front. Then we went east back to Taunton and shared some good beer and delicious food at the Vivary Arms. It was then back to Nick and Rachel’s for a very generous afternoon tea and cakes spread

James and Liz organised the January ride where ten tandems and 5 solos met at Combwich just outside Bridgwater.

It’s rather fitting that the attached photo is taken in the pub - it was only a short ride and the weather wasn’t really on our side, but the majority of the ride was spent in the pub as the food took for ever to arrive! Lovely people, as always, and an interesting part of Somerset to explore but maybe the constant inhalation of fumes from Hinkley Point Power Station slows the cooking somehow. And they ran out of peas!